Recounting imperial atrocities in the Middle East and the rise of the neoconservative movement, vocal critic of the Iraq war and British member of Parliament George Galloway spoke to a crowd of 1,000 Sunday at the Memorial Union Theater. Despite the absence of a key speaker, actress Jane Fonda, Galloway invigorated the largely anti-war crowd.
\Many thought that these monstrosities that struck the Twin Towers committing an act of mass murder ... came out of a clear blue sky,"" Galloway said. ""But I believe that it emerged from a swamp of hatred and bitterness and enmity against us in the Muslim world as a result of injustice upon injustice by your country and mine against Muslims.""
The fourth stop of Galloway's international anti-war tour in the United States, the assembly was blemished by Fonda's no-show due to a medical emergency. Fonda accrued notoriety during the 1970s as a caustic critic of the Vietnam War.
Similarly, Galloway emerged early in the conflict as a vociferous critic of the war and was re-elected earlier this year on an anti-war platform.
In his speech, Galloway characterized Osama bin Laden as a ""medieval, obscurantist savage"" but had equally harsh words for government officials who sent soldiers to be greeted with ""something harder and sharper than flowers and rice.""
""This is what real political dissent ... sounds like and should look like,"" said Sherry Wolf, member of the International Socialist Review editorial board, who presented the speakers.
Sharing the same sentiment, College Republicans organized a small protest outside Memorial Union. Roughly 25 protesters chanted and waved signs bearing the mantras, ""U.S.A.!"" and ""We Support the Troops."" Erica Christenson, First Vice-Chair of the College Republicans, declined to comment, complaining of unfair media portrayal.
""We love [the troops], too. We love them so much we don't want them either killing or being killed anymore,"" Galloway said. ""It's because we love our armed forces that we say it's time to bring them home.""
The tour is sponsored nationally by the Center for Economic Research and Social Change, National Council of Arab-Americans, ISR and The New Press.
Locally, the International Socialist Organization, The Capital Times and Teaching Assistants Association are among the organizations that sponsored the event.
The event will be televised in its entirety September 22 at 7 p.m. on WYOU Community Access Cable 4.
